A day in the life of a Design Room Assistant
My name is Zara Appadoo and I’m a Design Room Assistant at River Island.
The education:
University College for the Creative Arts at Rochester - BA Hons Fashion Design
The background:
- Designed corporate uniforms for small local businesses
- Buyer for a local boutique
- Produced and sold a small own label range
- Visual Merchandiser at Calvin Klein
- Wedding photographer assistant
The job:
I work across three departments, where I work with the Designers to research trends, ideas and inspiration. We look at images, swatches, vintage garments etc and edit this down into a key selection and design and build our range around these ideas.
The team:
I work with all of the Ladieswear Designers and a few Buyers. I do a lot of work for the Design Director and a fair bit of running around but it’s a good experience to have the opportunity to work with someone who is so established - there are a lot of things you can learn from them!
The low down:
I love designing! It’s what I yearn for, I could do it all day and all night. Even though I’m the more junior member of the design team, I definitely feel like my efforts are noticed and I do get given great opportunities to get involved.
I love my job! Sometimes, when I have to cut hundreds of swatches, it can be a little tedious, but everyone has to start somewhere and as long as I work hard I’m sure I’ll rise to the top!
The advice:
Want to work in fashion? Be confident, enthusiastic, eager and hard working! I know having these words drilled into you can seem very repetitive but they are key.
If you want to work in Design, be prepared to start at the bottom and do the ‘admin’. You won’t be designing straight away but if you are committed, focused and have the talent for designing, you will get noticed!
Interested? Then click here or back to careers .
